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Using other offers to renegotiate one’s position

In our most recent "how can we help you?" thread, a reader writes:

I am curious about experiences/advice on using new offers to renegotiate existing positions. So, you already have a full time permanent position at a University but get an offer from a different University that you want to use as a bargaining chip (at least potentially).

I am generally curious about the process here, but I am particularly interested in something that is likely a bit idiosyncratic: If you currently have a Non-Tenure Track (but permanent) position (something like an "Assistant Teaching Professor") and get offered a TT position at a different University. Is there any path to getting the NTT job switched over to a TT position (perhaps not immediately, but with some sort of guarantee or promise)?

I obviously understand one response is "just take the TT position" but let's assume there are some good reasons to stick at the current University, although preferably with a TT position.

Although I could be wrong, my sense is that this is pretty simple. All you need to do is schedule a meeting with your dean, letting them know, "I have an attractive offer from another university. But I really love this university, and would like to stay here." The ball is then in their court, and as far as I can tell, what happens next depends on a variety of factors:

  1. the financial situation of your university,
  2. the institution's hiring policies,
  3. the freedom (or lack thereof) of the administration there to convert your current position into a tenure-track position,
  4. how much they value you.

Your dean may well tell you straight up that there is nothing they can do, and then wish you the best in your new job. Or they may say they will go to the Provost to see what they can do. And so on. One complication here is that I believe it's the case in the US that the law (federal law?) requires all full-time junior positions (i.e. tenure-track Assistant Professor positions) to do full national searches. While it is always possible that your university could do an expedited search (with you as the "inside candidate"), any search would almost certainly take a while, and no guarantee could be given that you would be the hire–in which case your attractive offer from the other university would almost certainly expire before you know one way or the other. Which to me is probably too big of a risk to take.

Anyway, this is my sense of how things work. If you have an offer, there's no harm in going to your dean to see what they can do! (Note: I wouldn't tell them where you have the offer from. That's none of their business, and not worth the risk of an unethical dean trying to do something to sabotage things–something that is probably profoundly unlikely, but there are unethical people out there!). But these are just my thoughts. What are yours?

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12 responses to “Using other offers to renegotiate one’s position”

  1. Paul

    Yea, I don’t know the rule about the national search requirement, but it does seem pretty standard, even at a private university like mine. BUT, if its converting a current line to a different position, I think that is looked at as a promotion, not a new position requiring a new search. HR at your school can answer that for you. If the school does have to do a national search for the TT position, there may be other options that you find attractive depending on your university. At mine, while immediately converting your NTT line to a TT line is highly unlikely, you could get it converted to what we call a senior lecturer position (some schools call it an associate teaching professor), or a clinical professor (the latter means a 3/3 with the other 25% consisting in either professional development or research). While neither of those positions technically have the protections of tenure (at my institution), they are attractive permanent positions where all hell would have to break lose for them to let you go or fire you…

    Reply
  2. anon

    I think that this is all so institution dependent that the questioner just needs to initiate the conversation and see what’s possible.
    The only thing I would add to what Marcus said about this aspect is that at my institution I’d start this off by talking to the chair, not the dean.

    Reply
  3. Marcus Arvan

    anon: good point! You should definitely at least let your chair know before you approach the dean, as it would be unfortunate for your chair to only hear about it second-hand rather than from you. Your chair may also be willing to “go to bat” for you to the dean, making the case to the dean (who may or may not know you well) why the department really needs to keep you, and why it would be a mistake for the university to lose you.

    Reply
  4. SLAC Associate

    I’m not a legal expert, but I’m pretty sure there’s no federal law mandating that junior TT-positions must have national searches. I suspect many institutions have that as a blanket policy, and perhaps some state laws require state university systems to do that, but I believe there’s no federal requirement for all colleges to do that.
    (My evidence:
    1. My own position was a lecturer position that was converted to tenure-track without doing a search within the last decade, and I assume my institution wouldn’t have done that if it were illegal.
    2. I know of several individuals who have had tenure-track positions created for them in order to secure the employment of their partner, either as a faculty member or as an administrator, which would seem impossible if such a federal law existed.)

    Reply
  5. Caballero

    I have a similar question.
    What would result from a TT faculty member attempting to use a non-academic job offer to negotiate, say, higher salary from a dean or university?
    Would the dean or administration treat this differently than a case where a TT member had a TT job offer?
    And suppose that this TT member is a large teaching focused state school that does demand research for tenure.

    Reply
  6. ash

    “Is there any path to getting the NTT job switched over to a TT position (perhaps not immediately, but with some sort of guarantee or promise)?”
    Please do not accept a “guarantee or promise”. If the Dean changes, the next Dean most likely will not honor it. I’ve seen it happen many, many times.

    Reply
  7. Mike Titelbaum

    A few points:
    1. If your relationship with your chair is good, start by talking to your chair.
    2. I am almost certain that there is no requirement that tenure-track appointments happen after full searches. I’m pretty sure I have direct evidence of this.
    3. Unfortunately sometimes you will have to tell your chair and/or dean where the other offer is from. Some schools are willing to do different things in response to outside offers from what they consider “peer” schools than “non-peer” institutions.
    4. In some types of academic positions—for instance, law school faculty—it is typical for academia to be fighting off outside offers from non-academic institutions. Don’t know how this would go over for a philosopher.

    Reply
  8. anon 2

    I have a similar question. When I was hired, I had another offer, so I received a bonus on top of our unionized contract. I have now been granted tenure and the administration asks me whether I want the bonus to be renewed.
    Here’s the thing.
    I don’t have any external offer. My research is good (probably better than the average for my school), my evaluation are ok (with a good improving trend over time), service is ok/more than ok.
    There are, however, two schools that showed interest in yours truly.
    One of them offered me a visiting position (to know each other better, and, on their side, to evaluate whether they want to extend a TT offer). Another school is currently running a search and the seach committee invited me to apply to that job (I did).
    Here’s my question: should I mention these two facts in the letter to the dean where I ask the renewal of my salary bonus? Should I include the two emails from these schools, to back it up?
    A colleague from the economics dept (where these bonuses are a lot more common than for philosophers) tells me to just mention the facts without naming the schools or the persons involved. Your thoughts?

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  9. my two cents

    My two cents
    I think if you are going to negotiate, you must recognize that when you approach a dean or chair you really have to be prepared to leave your current job. If you say you MAY take a job elsewhere, and they say, good luck with it, AND then stay, they then have you completely beholden to them.
    So do not do it unless you really are prepared to leave.

    Reply
  10. Mike Titelbaum

    Anon 2, if I were in your position I would try to find someone else (your chair, a senior colleague) to mention these outside opportunities to the dean, say how valuable you are to the institution, and indicate that they should really try to keep you. I realize that may not always be possible, depending on your context, but if it is possible it addresses two cents’ concern, among other things.

    Reply
  11. anon 2

    Dear Two Cents and Mike Titelbaum,
    thank you very much for your inputs.
    I will certainly approach my chair who has always been supportive.
    There is a calendar issue. The school that invited me to apply for a tenured job will presumably have their interviews in the Spring (it is not a US institution). (The place is comparable to the one I am at, at least salary-wise, but I think it would make sense for my family to move there for a number of non-academic issues, like extended family living in the area, job opportunities for my relevant other etc.). However, the timeline is such that I have to apply for the extension of my bonus at my current university before April – most likely, before any possible on-campus visit to the other place.
    So I should probably not mention this opportunity, especially because there is no certainty whatsoever of having an offer (they invited some people to apply for the same job, I am just one of them).
    at any rate, thank you very much again for your advices

    Reply
  12. Paul

    I think many folks are forgetting that you have an HR department or rep. Talk to them before anyone else. They guarantee confidentiality, and can tell you what your institutions polices are regarding this issue, and what is up for negotiation…

    Reply

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